Flight of the Phoenix

Theatrical Release Date: 2004 12 17 (USA)

UPC: 024543401124

Studio: 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Humor, Profanity]

Summary: Based on a novel by Elleston Trevor, director John Moore's The Flight of the Phoenix is a remake of a 1965 film of the same name starring film icon James Stewart. The story revolves around the plight of Captain Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid), a pilot whose C-119 cargo plane full of oil workers could not withstand the violent winds of a desert sandstorm. Stranded in the harsh terrain of Mongolia's Gobi Desert (a departure from the original, in which the plane crashed in the Sahara), Frank and his navigator face an equal challenge in maintaining order among the survivors. The group of oilmen had planned on an uneventful trip to shut off a group of rigs falling below their productivity expectations -- not fending for their very lives. Before long, some men are revealed as cowards, while others exhibit a surprising show of strength, all the while hoping that the wreckage of the original plane can be salvaged before a Lord of the Flies situation occurs. Miranda Otto is featured in a supporting role, as well as Giovanni Ribisi and Tyrese Gibson. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Category: Adventure

Features: Full-length audio commentary by director John Moore, producers John Davis and Wyck Godfrey, and production designer patrick Lumb

Flight of the Phoenix

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 12/05/2006

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DTS Digital Theater Systems, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 113 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,English,Spanish

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Flight of the Phoenix
1. Main Titles
2. "Shut-It-Down" Towns
3. A Bunch of Zeroes
4. The Two Bills
5. Sandstorm
6. Mayday!
7. Survivors
8. Last Rites
9. Screwed
10. Lost in the Night
11. Bad Odds
12. Elliott's Idea
13. Loooking for Liddle
14. Something to Do
15. No Compromises
16. The Night Shift
17. Fuel Shortage
18. The Day Shift
19. Wing Man
20. Break Time
21. The Electrical Storm
22. The Phoenix
23. Indispensable
24. Nomads?
25. Liddle's Watch
26. Last Words
27. Wrong Decisions
28. The Boss of Everyone
29. It's Ready
30. Toy Planes
31. Let's Go Home
32. Something Really Amazing
33. Five Chances
34. Rough Takeoff
35. Flight of the Phoenix
36. End Titles

Derek Armstrong

Flight of the Phoenix is a useful enough and enjoyable enough update of the original Robert Aldrich film starring James Stewart. The term "update" is more appropriate than "remake," as the setting has shifted from the Sahara to the Gobi; the producers must have recognized that American crash victims attacked by lawless Arab nomads (terror cells?) might be a tad more politically sensitive in 2004 than it was in 1965. Whether any kind of lawless nomads are a necessary part of the story is another matter, since the stakes needn't be raised any further than the characters facing mutiny and starvation, amid violent sandstorms that can rip flesh. Still, director John Moore follows the original structure pretty closely, and the screenwriting team (which features Edward Burns) gives the dialogue good punch. It's also a visually ambitious film -- not only on the obvious level of the gripping crash sequence, but in its visual representation of hypothetical scenarios from the dialogue, which makes it a little reminiscent of Three Kings. In one such instance, a character rattles off the hopeless succession of hazards that would await anyone who tried navigating to safety, a hundred miles distant, with nary a landmark to keep one oriented. Dennis Quaid is suitably macho and Giovanni Ribisi sufficiently eccentric as the central characters grappling for command. The addition of a woman/love interest (Miranda Otto), a departure from the original, works well enough, but the script never questions that the stranded crew would be anything other than complete gentlemen toward her. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jared Padalecki  Actor 
Hugh Laurie  Actor 
Jacob Vargas  Actor 
Paul Ditchfield  Actor 
Derek Barton  Actor 
Scott Michael Campbell  Actor 
Yi-Ding Wang  Actor 
Vernon Lehmann  Actor 
Anthony Wong  Actor 
Bobby Brown  Actor 
Kee-Yick Cheng  Actor 
Kevork Malikyan  Actor 
Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones  Actor 
Jim Lau  Actor 
Martin "Mako" Hindy  Actor 
Edward Burns  Screenwriter 
William Aldrich  Producer 
Scott Frank  Screenwriter 
Ric Kidney  Executive Producer 
Marco Beltrami  Composer (Music Score) 
John Moore  Director 
John Moore  Producer 
Wyck Godfrey  Producer 
T. Alex Blum  Producer 
Dennis Quaid  Actor 
Tyrese Gibson  Actor 
Giovanni Ribisi  Actor 
Miranda Otto  Actor 
Tony Curran  Actor 

Country: USA